


The Gallavich Family Face Homophobia

by fckyeahgallavich



Series: Aevitas [8]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Feels, Gay Parents, Homophobia, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, slightly OOC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 04:58:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16549364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fckyeahgallavich/pseuds/fckyeahgallavich
Summary: Abbi encounters homophobic bullying at school and Ian and Mickey help her realize she shouldn't give hateful people the time of day.I wrote this a year ago on Tumblr and just realized I never added it here. It's a little ooc but I still like it.





	The Gallavich Family Face Homophobia

Ian and Mickey had been married for 9, almost 10 years. Yevgeny was already 13 years old and in middle school. About five years ago they adopted a beautiful little girl from a family down the street who was ready to send her to foster care. The family named her Abigail, but Ian and Mickey called her Abbi. Now 8 years old, Ian and Mickey were ironically just discussing how seamlessly she had integrated into their family when she came bursting through the front door and ran to her room slamming the door behind her. Ian looked to Mickey who was staring after her, confused.

“What the fuck was that about?” Mickey wondered. Abigail was usually a level headed child and was anything but a drama queen. This display was beyond out of character and appalling to both of her fathers.

“Should we—Should we go and ask her what’s wrong?” Ian stammered. They knew this day would come when the men would have trouble delving into the feminine mind of their daughter, but they had hardly considered the enigma of the female brain would confound them when she was as young as 8 years old!

“Don’t ask me, I only have one sister and I never knew what the fuck she wanted.” Mickey replied. They sat there another moment in silence, thinking. Yevgeny walked through the front door throwing his backpack to the floor and making his way to the kitchen when he caught Mickey’s disapproving look. Yev deflated and walked back to his backpack to hang it where Ian had installed hooks by the door just for this purpose.

“Yevgeny, what the fuck is up with your sister?” Mickey asked as Yev rummaged through the fridge.

“Umm…” He pulled his torso out of the fridge and looked at his fathers with an uncomfortable expression. “I don’t think you want to know…”

“Why? Is she okay?” Ian asked.

“Well… Yes and no.” Yev replied, ever the orator like his biological father.

“Son—” Mickey warned.

“Well, after parent-teacher night last week some kids from the bus recognized the four of us leaving the school and realized you both were our dads.”

“Yeah? Fucking and?” Mickey demanded.

“Dad, we’re dealing with rich yuppy private school rejects. They are homophobic as fuck”

“Yev...” Ian warned. Yev smiled and closed the fridge door, apparently having lost his appetite.

“What do you mean homophobic? They are making fun of her because of Ian and me?” Mickey asked incredulously.

“Well—yeah. I mean, kids have been giving me a hard time about it for a long time, I just ignore it.”

“Why the fuck does it matter?” Mickey wondered out loud, thoroughly enraged.

“I don’t know Pop, it just does. We’re poor people going to a rich school district and the rich kids wanted to get into a fancy school but weren’t smart enough so they pick on whoever they can to make themselves feel better.”

“Why did you never tell us?” Ian asked Yev who shrugged.

“I just didn’t really pay attention, I guess.” Yev replied.

“Yev, come here.” Mickey demanded. Yev looked nervous. Mickey was a strict father figure and while never abusive Yev always seemed nervous around Mickey, especially when he adopted "the tone." Ian suspected that Svetlana was too forthcoming when describing Mickey’s past as well as Terry’s parenting style which she probably thought influenced Mickey. The truth though, Ian was always blown away by the nurturing side of Mickey despite his overall strict style.

“You see people picking on your sister, you need to defend her, got it? She’s not Milkovich by blood, she doesn’t have that steel defense we have.”

“I’m not there all of the time, Pop.” Yev argued gently. Mickey considered this.

“Know any people who know karate? Tae-kwon-do?” Yev nods. “Ask them if they will teach your sister and if they don’t seem to want to, ask what it’ll take.” Yev nods again and looks to Ian.

“I’d defend her if I could—” Yev starts.

“No, it’s not your fault, son.” Ian assures. “She needs to know to stand up for herself. You just keep having her back like we know you already do.” Yev nods again and exhales deeply. He looks to his biological father, looking to be excused. Mickey pats him on the shoulder and Yev sags with a grin. Ian never understood what it was about Yev that made him nervous about affection with Mickey but he always seemed happier with distant and subtle displays rather than the blatant hugs Ian tried to give him.

“I’ve got a thing—”

“Yeah, yeah.” Mickey rolled his eyes. “Go on.” Yev laughed and went to give Ian a pat on the shoulder to match the one he received from his father. Ian let him go and sat still, staring at Mickey.

“You know there’s nothing we can do, Mick. If we bring attention to it at the school—”

“I know, I know it’ll put a target on her back. Like asking for more.” Mickey rubbed his eyes and stared at the ceiling.

“Let’s at least talk to her.” Ian insisted. Mickey nodded, gathered himself, and followed Ian to Abbi’s door. Ian knocked in a rhythm Abbi had come up with when she was 6. ‘Abbi-code’ she’d called it after watching a movie with her Dad that had a reference to morse code.

“What?” Her miserable mumble echoed through the door. Ian and Mickey’s eyes met, their hearts simultaneously breaking.

“May we come in, sweetheart?” Ian called. She was silent for a moment, probably considering. They heard her sniffle, and then heard footsteps as she approached the door, opening it just a crack. Ian went ahead and pushed through slowly. Mickey would have waited for the invite, but not Ian. Ian’s concern was too high a priority.

“Tell us what’s wrong, Abbi.” Ian requested. She leaned against the foot of her bed, eyes downcast and still sniffling. Mickey leaned against her dresser, willing to wait until she answered.

“I heard Yev tell you. You already know.” She replied after a while.

“Well, we have his side, but not why you are upset.” Ian explained. She sighed and turned to face her redheaded father. One look at him though made her lips tremble again. Ian held his arms out to her and she raced into them. He wrapped her in a hug and pulled her into his lap where she continued to cry. Mickey’s fists tightened until the tips of his knuckles bleached white. He looked absolutely murderous. He and Ian made eye contact and Mickey forced himself to breathe.

“What other kids think doesn’t matter, Abbi, you know that.” Mickey said as gently as he could.

“But why do they hate you two so much when they don’t even know you?” She wailed. “They said I’m a freak and that you and Daddy are going to hell, and I’m going to go to hell because I’ll grow up gay and… I just didn’t know what to say!”

Ian hugged her tighter and let her cry. Mickey sighed and rubbed at his eyes with the tips of his fingers.

“Look, Abbi. Those people can say whatever the fuck they want about your Dad and me. It’s not going to change what we have going on here. Are you happy here?” Abbi peeked up from Ian’s chest and nodded. “You know you’re loved and looked after?” She nodded again. “Then that’s all that matters. These kids are probably just pissed about whatever is going on in their shitty lives so to make themselves feel better they pick on someone smaller and who they think is an easy target. So you know what you’ve gotta do?” She just stared at him. “You’ve gotta prove that you aren’t an easy target. Yevgeny is going to get someone at school to teach you some self-defense so if anyone tries to hurt you, all you’ve got to do is lay 'em down.”

“Don’t go starting fights,” Ian interjected, “but you can definitely finish them.” She nodded.

“But what if they say—”

“Say what? It doesn’t matter.” Mickey shrugged.

“It still hurts…” Abbi replied looking at her lap. Ian sighed.

“It can hurt, sure. But you just have to remind yourself that they don’t know you, they don’t know us so everything they are saying is coming out of hate and ignorance. You can’t fix stupid, you can only ignore it and prove to them that their stupidity isn’t going to get you down.” Ian said. Mickey nodded and crouched in front of her.

“Don’t give them the satisfaction. You know we are happy, we love you, and that those people are just pissed off about something they don’t understand. Just… let it roll off. But like I said, if anyone tries to physically hurt you, you lay their asses down! No child of mine is going to be a fuckin’ doormat.” Mickey smiled at her, trying to get her to return the expression. Naturally, she did and she wrapped her arms around Mickey’s neck. Mickey in turn wrapped his arms around her little torso and cradled her to him. He and Ian made eye contact and smiled at each other. They hated how mean kids could be, but they had known long ago that this was a possibility and had prepared to strengthen their young ones up to face the harsh realities of an unforgiving world.

“You okay now?” Ian asked, rubbing her back. She looked down.

“It still hurts, but I know you’re right. I just can’t stand when they say mean things about you when they don’t know you.”

“It’s understandable that it hurts, you just can’t let it show to anyone else or they will walk all over you. If you are ever mad about it just wait until you’re home and we can talk about it some more, okay?” Ian explained. She nodded. She released her grip around Mickey’s neck and gave Ian one more quick hug before settling on her bed.

“Want to come out into the living room, or do you want to be by yourself?” Mickey asked. She grinned, grabbed her backpack and settled at the dining room table.

One of the most delightful things about their little family was how normal it was despite the circumstances. Abbi loved school and she loved working on her homework with her dads nearby to help if she had a question. Mickey was terrible at school so mostly Ian helped with schoolwork, but Mickey had developed a knack for cooking (beyond just pizza-bites and other frozen foods, mind you) and so he usually made dinner, tossing in some humor if Abbi ever got frustrated or needed a quick break. Yevgeny was usually in his room all night doing god knew what, but tonight he came out to be with his family. While Mickey cooked, Yevgeny actually shared his day with his father. Mickey was always shocked when Yev acted so attached to him because the sentiment came and went so much he could never tell how his son felt about him that day. He listened though, really listened and engaged. It was still hard for Mickey to attach to Yevgeny who was a constant reminder of that horrible day Terry walked in on him and Ian. It wasn’t fair, but there it was. He worked every day to ignore those memories and focus on the human being before him, and though it was rough he could say with certainty that he and his son had a relationship–and he was proud to say it.

Ian wished desperately they could somehow take a snapshot of this picture: Mickey cooking, Yevgeny hanging out with his father, Ian and Abbi working together on her fractions. There’d be something to show the haters: look you assholes, a loving family doing the same shit you guys do but with two men instead of only one. And look, our kids are fucking happy! Put that in your judgement pipes and smoke it! Of course that wasn’t possible, but Ian was satisfied by the mental image anyway.

That night as Ian put Abbi to bed he made her promise not to ever take a negative word from a stranger to heart and to think of this night if anyone was ever getting her down.

“The truth,” he said, “will keep you afloat when people try to drown you in negativity. Just remember who we are and what we do and remember that if they don’t know shit… then their opinion is irrelevant.”

Abbi considered this for a moment, grinned, and nodded.

“Okay, dad. I love you.” She said.

“I love you, too.” He replied and kissed her gently on the forehead. “Good night.” Mickey was standing at the door, watching the whole thing.

“I love you, daddy!” She called at Mickey. He smirked and crossed to her bed, kissing her lightly on the forehead right where Ian had.

“I love you too, kid.” She closed her eyes contentedly and snuggled under the covers, easing off into sleep.

Mickey had never dreamed he and Ian would have a life like this. But at moments like this he was so grateful they did. They both knew their kids would be subjected to more hatred, because that was the human way–to hate things they don’t understand. But the hatred would just make their kids stronger and feel more secure in the family they had. 

As the couple prepared for their own nighttime routine, Mickey and Ian both felt satisfied that despite the assholes, they were definitely living the life together they had never dared to dream.


End file.
